January 29, 2023No Comments

Yandex leak and what does it mean for SEO?

TL;DR Nothing.

Since 26.01.2023 the SEO circles at Twitter and LinkedIn are swarming with data about a leak of ranking factors from Yandex.ru. People are looking for them in relation to SEO in Google. The topic is a nowelty as I cannot remember any other leak of this scale, that would feed the SEO industry with information straight from the source, even if it is not Google, the urge to draw parallels is strong.

If there is one thing that we can learn from the recent Yandex leak is that the basics are still the essential part of SEO.

I will not go into the different factors, as many people have already done it in great detail during those few days. I will provide a few remarks based on my observations.

Backlinks are still a thing - yeah, why wouldn't they be? Algorithms need constant stimulus to find and evaluate relevant information, and as the world becomes increasingly digitally dynamic, the freshness and relevancy of backlinks will still be a thing. Of course, the form of a backlink may differ, and I believe that for some queries, we will see a more significant emphasis on UGC backlinks and social media. In contrast, some queries will still benefit more from more traditional forms of backlinks.

Building backlinks is and will still be a vital element of your SEO strategy. Remember that it always requires the right approach for your scenario. The topic of backlinks intertwines with the overall brand strength that will be described later on.

Keep It Simple Stupid - a few words about the website

Keep it Simple Stupid - one of the best design principles out there. K.I.S.S is for me, something that is often overlooked. But how does it relate to the Yandex leak?

Well, you have to focus on the user and on solving their particular needs in an easy-to-digest manner.

Your website (at the very least) should be loading fast, have precise URL addresses, good uptime, and an overall stable host. Keeping away from SPAM is also a good idea 😈

You need to make the information available to the user as soon as possible (maintaining fast loading time and overall host stability); they should then be able to find it quickly (thanks to great UX, easy-to-read URL, and heading, and of course an easy to follow content structure).

People who tend to find the information they are looking for will provide different metrics for the search engines than users who dropped the website without finding the information they were looking for. Yandex and Google look at how users interact with websites that rank for a keyword and use this information to rank pages.

Focus on your marketing - SEO will come

When talking about overall marketing activities and how they affect SEO, many factors come to mind. The bigger the brand, the bigger the buzz, and the more incentive a search engine has to interact with a website. By focusing on building a solid brand and working on SEO, you are working on fantastic results. You have to switch from thinking that SEO is the solution for your business growth needs.

I am an SEO. What should I do?

You should at least have a look at those elements to be able to make conversation on SEO events 😉

Jokes aside, if you are already working in a way that focuses on the user and quality, there is nothing more to do. Keep up the good work.

Further reading

arseniyshestakov.com/2023/01/26/yandex-services-source-code-leak/
gist.github.com/ArseniyShestakov/53a80e3214601aa20d1075872a1ea989
searchengineland.com/yandex-search-ranking-factors-leak-392323
https://cybernews.com/news/yandex-source-code-leaked/

January 25, 2023No Comments

Google Search Console – deep dive with Sebastian Heymann

Last Saturday, I attended a deep dive course focusing on Google Search Console. I have to say that even though I’ve considered GSC as one of the main tools of the trade for any SEO. I was still able to understand the ins and outs of it better.  

It may seem strange, but I felt like a person using a tool was suddenly shown other ways of using it. I am always open to challenging my knowledge and learning new things, especially regarding tools that I consider fundamental in my work as an SEO.

When you constantly use something, you begin to work automatically—always resorting to the same actions, views, and solutions. Thanks to Sebastian, I was able to challenge the way I am using GSC in my daily work. It was a significant refresh, and I could learn new things from it.

But let’s go back to the beginning. Before starting the course, Sebastian made a LinkedIn post asking people to evaluate their knowledge of GSC. Well played Sebastian, well played. You’ve caught my attention. After taking it, I became curious about the material that Sebastian had prepared for this course.

The online session began on time and lasted for about 9 hours, including a few breaks. This was a lot to process. Thankfully, the information was presented in an approachable way.

Sebastian used as many examples as possible and paid great attention to detail. No question was left unanswered, and other course participants often voiced their opinions and shared custom case studies.

Pros:

- you can learn new things about your favourite tool,
- the significant part about the way Google does index content,
- good overall pace,
- working on real-life examples
- more practice, less theory

Cons:
- 2 five hour-long sessions would be better. I have problems focusing after a few hours of listening, even if the material is great
- a little rearrangement of blocks would be beneficial
- more handouts could be great

Overall I give this course a solid 4/5, and if you want to rediscover one of the most useful SEO tools, this course is a good solution.

November 8, 2022No Comments

The Manifest Names Ekspert SEO Karol Kwiatkowski as One of the World’s Most-Reviewed SEO Companies

Ekspert SEO KAROL KWIATKOWSKI - The Manifest's Most Reviewed SEO Companies
The Manifest's Most Reviewed SEO Companies

My solopreneurship specializes in helping businesses grow through modernized, effective digital solutions. I am a reliable provider of a wide range of services, tailored to your specific marketing and advertising needs. I excel in optimizing digital assets to amplify your brand's online presence. More importantly, I can help you learn the success requirements of your business as you grow steadily.

Today, I am excited to share that we’re highlighted as a leading company on The Manifest, a platform that showcases industry leaders. According to them, I am one of the most-reviewed SEO companies in the world.

Since 2011, we’ve been passionate about servicing fast-growing, forward-thinking businesses to boost their growth. We’ve been working hard to deliver top-tier results that enable our clients to achieve their goals. To win this award is truly an honor, and we couldn’t have done it without my clients.

Appstronauts is a software development company that engaged with us for SEO efforts. As they needed to acquire more leads from major regions, they needed an experienced SEO consultant to handle their requests. We initialized the project by performing an audit of their online presence. We then moved to create the strategy that they would follow for months. Here’s what they said about the project.

“After starting cooperation with Karol, our rankings skyrocketed. The process is well underway. We are working towards our following targets. The whole process is going well.

Karol can find the right tool for the job and knows everything about SEO.”

— Radoslaw Wosik, COO & Co-Founder, Appstronauts

Thank you to the client for leaving this appreciated review. Learn more about our notable projects by browsing the newest list on The Manifest.

If you’re interested in our SEO solutions, please get in touch.

August 23, 2022No Comments

The dreaded Helpful Content Update – better late than never.

Last week the news broke out about on Search Central Blog the latest algorithm update from Google.

This time aimed at promoting content that "to better ensure people see more original, helpful content written by people, for people, rather than content made primarily for search engine traffic."

At long last.

You know what they say, better late than never.

How long did we have to suffer from overoptimized texts that could not answer the desired question, instead taking us on a long and tedious journey?

The last few years have seen the advent of AI-assisted writing tools that have pushed the limits of what it means to write a good text from a search engine perspective.

REMEMBER: ANSWER THE QUESTION AND PROVIDE INFORMATION IN AN APPROACHABLE MANNER.

Nowadays, due to the sheer amount of text-wise optimation, finding the answer to the query bordered on the impossible.

Let's take a popular topic on my home turf. In Poland, we have a still fresh law that prohibits certain businesses (supermarkets, many retail SMBs) from opening on Sundays. There are, however, some exceptions to this rule. On a few Sundays, all business can be open.

No one remembers when are those Sundays. So people turn to Google to find the answer.

A simple query: "is 21.08.2022 a shopping Sunday?" should provide a simple yes or no answer.

However, in our over-optimized world, we are treated with a list of results with one thing in common. Before answering the question, they are bombing us with irrelevant content made for the sake of search engines.

I, for one, despise this approach.

Surfer SEO suggests that to rank for a simple query, we need to build a text that:

  • has 7,800–16,487 characters or 1000 - 2200 words
  • has 40 paragraphs
  • has 13-18 headings

All of this madness to answer a simple question!

This goes on because we often encourage our copywriting team to beat the best results in tools like Surfer SEO so that we can go above and beyond the competition.

We all emphasize the importance of UX, but we tend to forget about it while chasing rankings.

I am looking forward to this update as I want the user firendly, clutter-free web back.

July 31, 2022No Comments

SEO for IT companies – a roadmap

SEOBara.com is all about sharing. I believe that the more knowledge and good practices are out there, the better the overall market environment is. This series of articles will share my thoughts, comments, and ideas on particular elements of a successful campaign aimed at driving more organic traffic from search engines.

I also believe that giving you a roadmap containing some of the main ideas I will be touching upon is a great way to convince you to visit this place more often. So without further ado, here's my plan for the foreseeable future.

Lastly, I would like to reach out to all IT company owners, marketing managers, and SEOs working for IT to share their thoughts and ideas so that we can create the most comprehensible set of good practices.

Section 1. The basics of SEO

  1. What every IT company should know before starting SEO
  2. How to "git gud" at SEO?
  3. What is SEO in 2022?
  4. What are some common SEO myths and misconceptions concerning IT?
  5. What are the most common mistakes IT companies make when starting work on their SEO?
  6. How long does it take for SEO to take effect?
  7. The right mindset when it comes to SEO.
  8. Is it possible for an offshore company to be successful at SEO?

Section 2. How to tackle SEO

  1. Understanding the user is the most crucial element of growth.
  2. Creating the right client persona - and why you should start here.
  3. Identify the key touchpoints with your clients.
  4. Rock solid SEO foundations for any serious business.

Section 3. Working with SEO service providers

  1. How to find an SEO service provider - the ultimate guide.
  2. What questions should you ask an SEO provider during their pitch?
  3. Some dirty tricks agencies use to win over a new account.
  4. How to pinpoint a reliable SEO offer.
  5. Setting KPIs or OKRs? Which one might be better for you?
  6. Potential red flags when working on SEO with agencies/freelancers.
  7. How to read reports and what a good SEO report should look like.

Section 4. All about SEO tools

  1. Free tools everyone should know and use.
  2. Paid tools that can step up your SEO game.
  3. Additional tools are helpful if you are thinking seriously about SEO.
  4. My proven SEO toolset.

Section 5. The importance of brand in SEO for IT companies.

  1. Building a strong brand presence within search engine result pages
  2. Finding the right places for brand exposure

Section 6. Your website.

  1. How does the domain name influence SEO?
  2. How does your content management system affect your SEO?
  3. What impact can your server have on organic traffic?
  4. Are you using a CDN? Well, you should; here's why.
  5. Core Web Vitals are serious; here's how to make your website as user-friendly as possible.
  6. The need for speed in website optimization from an SEO perspective.
  7. Putting mobile-first, well, first.
  8. Structuring your website the right way.
  9. The dreaded Google Sandbox and how to get out of it.

Section 7. Content

  1. Understanding content and its role in growth.
  2. How to create content in a smart and organized way.
  3. The top 100 approach.
  4. Creating your content team or outsourcing it?

Section 8. Linkbuilding

  1. The do's and dont's of linkbuilding.
  2. How to approach linkbuilding?
  3. Linkbuilding for IT companies - some proven strategies.

July 29, 2022No Comments

The genesis of SEOBara

Hi, I am Karol Kwiatkowski, and I run SEOBara.com, I have been doing SEO since 2007, and I think this is an excellent time to start sharing with the community.

At its core, SEOBara is a place of sharing knowledge and promoting good practices that benefit the users and site owners. I am trying to look past the veil of SEO in favor of the broader picture.

I hope that you will find here materials that will help you in your SEO activities.

Karol

May 15, 2022No Comments

Coming soon

This is seobara, a brand new site by Karol Kwiatkowski that's just getting started. Things will be up and running here shortly, but you can subscribe in the meantime if you'd like to stay up to date and receive emails when new content is published!

January 2, 2022No Comments

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!